“Give and take”: A social exchange perspective on festival stakeholder relations

• Published in: Annals of tourism research 2019-03, Vol.75, p.42-57
• Main Authors: Adongo, Raymond, (Sam) Kim, Seongseop, Elliot, Statia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Altruism; Control; Dependence; Festival; Festivals; Interest groups; Social exchange; Social exchange theory; Social interaction; Stakeholders; Trust; Volunteers
• ISSN: 0160-7383; 1873-7722
• DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2018.12.005

•This study adopts social exchange theory in the festival context.•The theory explains the differences between festival stakeholders regarding trust, control, dependence, and altruism.•This study is contributory to a new application of social exchange theory through multi-dimensional assessment.•The findings foster an understanding dyadic relations of involved stakeholders. Based on social exchange theory, this research seeks to establish the differences between festival stakeholder relations in terms of trust, control, dependence, and altruism. A total of 1105 participant surveys were collected at six festivals in Ghana across eight stakeholder groups including organizers, government authorities, visitors, volunteers, sponsors, and media. The results indicate that organizers have the highest level of trust for other stakeholders whereas media have the lowest. For other stakeholders trust levels are similar, suggesting that festival organizers capitalize on mutual stakeholder trust to broaden collaboration. Regarding dependence, volunteers showed the least level of dependence on other stakeholders, suggesting that organizers work to more deeply engage their volunteers to improve relationships. This multi-dimensional assessment of social exchange theory in the festival field contributes to our understanding of dynamics among festival stakeholders.